Trying to Get Ahead

Getting ahead is oftentimes a pointless endeavour. During the Winter 2008-09, I tried my darndest to get ahead. I figured if I threw enough pots, we would have enough to carry us through the Summer and into Fall. We did great. We have consistently had mountains of bisqueware just waiting for an open kiln. And yet we never got ahead.

Inevitably, something goes awry. First it was an acute case of diverticulitis that way-laid me back in June. Tuesday I go in for surgery to resect my colon. No fun. It means I will be down and out for 4-6 weeks. For the first two weeks, my mom will be here (from Miami!). R&R is such an uncommon thing around here. The concept of actually relaxing and recuperating is such an anomaly. But I am going to be a good patient, and I am going to utilize my time out of the studio to work on other non-clay things.

I have decided to dive feet first into the Strobist-world. Just in case you've never heard of Strobist, check out David Hobby's blog. If you make images with a camera, you'll find his blog an endless source of information and insight.

I also aim to begin working on articles I promised myself I would write during the winter. I think this will also be a perfect time to pull together various ideas for classes I would like to teach. Writing a curriculum always stirs up writer's block in me, so this is a fine opportunity to reach around the subject from the other side.

Until I am back in the studio, Hannah, Nancy and Aurora will have to make do without my throwing. I have made a pile of pots this past week, and hopefully will see many of them glazed before the end of the month. Here's a quick shot of what's been happening in the studio this week.

Working day and night

The red stuff on our bisqueware is colored wax. About 2 years ago we started using "Wax That Works" which we get from Studio Sales in Avon NY. Great stuff. We mix it up with a fair amount of food coloring and a touch of alumina hydrate. Really works perfect then!

Trying to get lots of little orders finished up. Stuff that should have been done back in July is finally hitting the kiln shelves this week. A lot has hinged upon getting Sunset Red to be a happy glaze again. It has been so finicky this year that I am tempted to toss it out and just move on to a different glaze. Not fun!

So, here's how things look in the shop this week. By the time this hits the blog, I'll probably have loaded 2 more kilns and be working on mugs again! Go figure. This time of year, it never stops!

Snow in August

No, not really, but it has only just this week started feeling like Summer. Another week or two, and this will be over. Thereafter begins that sudden slide into Fall and then Winter.

This image is of the Queen Anne's Lace that has popped up in Aurora's bed near the road. I Love this stuff. I know it's a weed, but it sure is a pretty weed.






Nancy said she wants to print this one out. To her this is Summer. Bright, yellow and cheery!

The studio has been going FULL-TILT this week. Sorry for the lack of blog updates but by the time the day is done, I am just wiped out.

In hopes of catching up a bit, here are a few images from the studio today.


The shelves are starting to fill back up with bisque-ware. Today was canisters. Tomorrow soupmugs. Then hopefully more teabowls and small serving bowls. I love making these two forms in the same run. It really helps me tie the two forms together. My decoration flows and the tautness of the forms seems to feed eachother.

Canisters, canisters, and more canisters

Do you own one of these? If you dont have a Talisman seive, my heart goes out to you. As our apprentice Hannah, found out today, these seives make life MUCH easier. Today was just a 10Kg batch of clear (5gal), but it still took 10 minutes of rotary seiving. She would have been there all afternoon with a regular seive and brush.





More bisqueware staring me in the face first thing in the morning! That means tomorrow, first thing, I am glazing. Hopefully we can get two more glaze firings through the kiln before Sunday.

Weekly Update

This week has seen a lot of pots fly through the studio... and yet I feel like I haven't had time to do much of anything. Here's a quick look through the studio and the gallery. More when I feel "more caught up"

One of the projects I started this week was adding feet to our oval vase forms. I wish the feet were visible in this image... suffice to say they look like the feet on our footed mugs. I think though, that they need something more. Not sure yet how to integrate it, but we'll see what the next batch offers.


I always enjoy waxing. I love the rhythm of re-centering. I love seeing them lined up, covered in bubblegum colored wax. Some potters ask why I bother adding dye to our wax... I guess I like knowing exactly where I have goofed with the wax, rather than being surprised after the firing. We also add alumina hydrate to our wax to help avoid plucking of our claybody on our kiln shelves.


Hannah finally has her own display of her multi-colored mugs. And they are FLYING off the shelves. Of our last four customers, three of them went home with at least one of Hannah's mugs.

Pots like I promised

When I say we have STACKS of bisqueware.... I mean, STACKS and STACKS and STACKS.
We could glaze eight kiln loads worth of pots... if we only had the time to get it all glazed.
So why so many pots? Well, having an apprentice has allowed me to focus a lot more of my time on throwing pots since she is taking care of making all of our slab built plates and serving trays.
It is also my intention to have enough work to get us through Summer without panic and frustration like we've seen each summer for three years running!

This is the old Turquoise, along with the Lime and Blue and Forest glazes.

We have a new replacement color for our Turquoise. We'd been making turquoise for about 5 years now and it was time to let it go. It never really made me say WOW. It was a decent color, but as a glaze it was lacking. Sort of a flat even color, no depth, always too glossy, and inevitably obscured my texture. So, a week ago, I took the remaining 2 gallons of Turq and mixed it with the remaining 3 gallons of an ancient glaze called Seafoam (from about 7 years ago!) and sent it through the firing. It came out a wonderful color, but still too close to Turquoise. And worse it was even shiny-er!

On Monday I had a chance to play a little bit with the glaze and sat there thinking about what I would change and how to get it to stand up and dance for me. I ended up adding 5% EPK (kaolin) and an extra 1% copper oxide. Fired it up Monday night. Unloaded today and WOW. Now it sings.

All that is left is to name it. We are going to host a competition to name this new turquoise-ish color. (we're gonna do this for some of our other new colors too... just wait!!)

So here are the rules: no name suggestions till we begin the competition. All submissions have to be via the blog.

The prize: Winner gets a pot of their choosing in this new color.

Contest will begin as soon as I post a GREAT new image of this color sometime next week. Just wait!!!